In Benin, the Director of the National Social Security Fund (CNSS), Appolinaire Tchintchin, has informed all employers of domestic workers or “domestic helpers” that they must declare them to the social security system before the end of the year.

Gardeners, caretakers, launderers, cooks, houseboys or housemaids, drivers, personal carers of disabled and sick persons, etc, all of them must now be declared by their employers to the general social security system. This was the decision of the Beninese executive through a communiqué from the National Social Security Fund (CNSS) on Thursday, March 27, 2023.

“Defaulting employers who will declare their domestic employees, on their actual date of hiring, before December 31 2023, will exceptionally be exempted from paying the full amount of the late payment increases they incur”, stressed the CNSS General Director, while recalling that “failure to declare and pay social security contributions is a punishable offense under both civil and criminal law.”

This communiqué comes a few months after the announcement made by President Talon on Tuesday 6 December 2022 while he was exchanging with the general secretaries of the trade unions and employers’ organizations on wage increase. “Illegal employment is punishable by law, and soon we will start sanctioning,” the Beninese Head of State warned.

From an economic point of view, registering a domestic worker with the CNSS implies paying him or her at least the Beninese minimum wage (52,000FCFA). Considering Benin’s small salaries and the increasingly high cost of living, only politicians can afford it.